Goals and Objectives

Overall Goal

A key aspect of graduate education at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Science (GSS) is that education is closely linked to research. Through the graduate school curricula, students learn how to carry out research effectively from faculty members who are active at the frontlines of research, thus enabling students to conduct advanced and creative research themselves. The overall goal of graduate education at the GSS is to develop and enhance the capabilities of researchers and educators possessing originality and ingenuity to conduct pioneering research at the frontlines of various scientific fields, act as core members of international and interdisciplinary research projects, and through their research and other activities, meet the needs of the industrial community and society at large.

Educational Objectives

To realize the overall goal described above, the GSS has set the following educational objectives for the six departments of the GSS.

(A) Acceptance of students with creative minds and leadership qualities who have the proper aptitude to become outstanding researchers, scientists, and technical experts

If we are to return students back into society as creative and first-class researchers, it is essential that we accept only students with the proper aptitude. Naturally, we assume that students who apply to the GSS on their own initiative accurately understand their aptitude. Thus to realize our educational goals, we aim to develop an effective admissions selection process that ensures the selection of students with the proper aptitude, and, in conjunction with that, to widely deliver information on the GSS and our admissions policy to prospective students.

Individual instruction and guidance play a central role in the master's and doctoral programs for training students to conduct creative research activities on a laboratory basis. Through individual guidance, students learn how to identify research topics and acquire the necessary skills to carry out advanced research. In addition, effective mentoring ensures that students learn how to read scientific papers, collect specialist information, write papers for international academic journals, and present research results at international conferences. To foster researchers effectively in response to the increase in the number of graduate students spurred by the focus on graduate school-level education, it is essential to enhance the function of individual instruction.

(C) Development of educational programs that meet the requirements of society

To respond fully to the need for developing human resources with not only deep but also broad knowledge of scientific fields — scholarship that will be required when students return to society — we take into consideration the various academic backgrounds and the future plans of graduate students when developing educational programs to train professional researchers.

(D) Development of educational programs that meet the needs of students with diverse backgrounds

With the increasing focus on graduate education, the number of applicants to each department of the GSS has increased, and students with diverse academic backgrounds (e.g. engineering, agriculture, and even literature backgrounds) have enrolled in the GSS. As a result, the number of students who enter the workforce directly after earning a master's degree has increased. With this increased diversity of students, the overall framework of the GSS has broadened, and it has become necessary to develop various educational tracks based on the different academic backgrounds and future plans of each student. Thus we are aiming to reorganize our educational programs to meet the needs of each student. Arranging common lectures for both graduate and undergraduate students is one possible solution. In addition, providing efficient education in response to each student's needs is one of our important goals regarding the education of international students, who, at the moment, constitute 5% of the entire graduate student population at the GSS.

(E) Enhancement of research environment for graduate students

Master's and Doctoral Degrees

A master's degree will be conferred to those who have completed a two-year period of residence, studied the compulsory subjects, earned the required number of credits specified by each department, and passed the thesis review and final examinations under the requisite guidance of an academic supervisor.

A doctoral degree will be conferred to those who have completed a three-year period of residence, studied the compulsory subjects, earned the required number of credits specified by department, and passed the thesis review and final examinations under the requisite guidance of an academic supervisor.

Graduate Admissions Information

Special Selection for International Applicants (Master's and Doctoral Programs)

Master's Level Admission to the Global Science Graduate Course (GSGC)

Graduate International Research Student Program (Non-degree program)

This is a program admitting students to the Graduate School of Science to study a specific subject under the supervision of a professor. Note that no degrees or qualifications are conferred through this program.